There are figures that hurt, and even very badly. Swept away the day before by the Knicks, the Warriors almost experienced the worst night in their history in Brooklyn. At the break, Kevin Durant’s teammates were leading 91-51!!! Never had the Nets scored so many points in a first half, and never had they led by 40 points at the break. Other franchise records: 23 assists and 13 3-pointers in the first half.
Fortunately for the Warriors, the Nets will not humiliate them, but on arrival, it is a new spanking (143-113), and in two evenings in New York, the differential is enormous: -68!
“Our balance sheet illustrates who we are” summarizes Steve Kerr. ” It was a bad road trip. We are at 15v-18d, and we are under 50% wins. We have to find a way to reverse that. »
This “road trip” confirms that the NBA champions are destitute on the move with only 3 wins in 19 matches. The absences of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins do not explain everything, and an NBA champion, even diminished, cannot collect 91 points in one half!
“That first half was shocking” recognizes Draymond Green. “You need to be aware because you don’t want to overreact. That said, the most important thing is to always play the right way, and as long as the mistakes are due to effort, we accept the results. We have to be aware of who we are. »
Jordan Poole sinks
The Warriors are just an average team, 11th in their conference, far from 6th place qualifying for the playoffs. When you are an average and diminished team, you have to play fair. Otherwise, we pay “cash”.
“We lose 13 balls in the first quarter… I think their first three baskets come after stray balls” Kerr recalls. “You can’t cover in defense after a loose ball, and that was the biggest problem to start the game. We really tried to create play, but we didn’t lose control… And they were phenomenal in the first half. They put everything. »
The player symbol of this rout is Jordan Poole. Without Curry or Thompson, he had the keys to the team, and he sank: 13 points at 4 of 17 on shots, including 1 of 11 at 3-pointers and 7 stray bullets!
“The simpler he plays, the easier he has shots” concludes Kerr. “It’s a bit of a paradox with him, but it’s been a problem for us in recent matches. These last two nights, he just forced too much. »
